Horns smoking: rewire?

Hi all,
The horn on my 58"TR3A got stuck. It started smoking from the 2 horns in the engine compartment. The people with me checked the fuses, nothing wrong, so they cut wires to the horn.
Do I need to rewire completely or just patch? How do I know what is wrong ?
Do I take the steering wheel off?
How do I do any of this ?
Thank you so much, Penni

Wow, they were smart enough to check the fuses, but not to pull one out to stop the horns? That's a shame.

You'll need to find the short that was causing the horns to blow all the time. The horns get power directly from the fuse block (where they have their own fuse), then normally get grounded through a wire that runs up the center of the steering column to the horn button. My _guess_ would be that the wires inside the control head are messed up, but I would start by disconnecting that brown/black wire from the wiring harness, where it joins the harness near the driver's side horn. Then you can use a powered test light or ohmmeter to verify that the wire to the control head is shorted to ground.

Does your control head turn with the wheel by any chance? If so, that practically guarantees the wires are twisted inside the head. Fortunately, you don't have to remove the steering wheel to service it.

thank you for this info. I will go out and see if the control head turns with the wheel.
My husband will have a go at it...
Penni

Remember that the horns are constantly powered and are caused to toot by completing the ground. Check also for open insulation where the control head wiring comes out at the bottom of the steering box.
Bob
PS Once you locate the source of the grounding and assure yourself that there is no fried insulation, you can simply reconnect, including soldering and shrink wrapping the cut wires.